my version of transparent, collaborative leadership...with a Teamann twist

Patience, the possible Principal eater…

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Patience is one of those skills that no one tells you is a critical component when you’re preparing for an administration position. It’s under valued and over expected. It’s a skill that has to be developed, nurtured, and  like SO many other things…it has to be intentional.

Patience…

…when you think everyone understood what you said, but find out some didn’t.

…when you figure out people can’t read your intentions, just your actions.

…when that student is sent to you again.

…when you wish so & so would have handled that differently.

…when you wish YOU had handled that differently.

…when you see things moving slower than you think they should be going.

…when you realize that you can’t MAKE people change, but only inspire them to want too.

Patience is a virtue, but it can also be the difference between being respected and being ignored. Impatient leaders lose the ability to bring people on board. Patience makes you pause, makes you reflect, makes you not so quick to jump. Change requires patience. Communication requires patience. Collaboration requires patience. Patience allows others to share, others to feel heard, and you to think.

Practice more patience. I know it is a skill that is evolving in me as a mom, as a wife, and most definitely as an assistant principal. Can one ever be too patient? Let me practice more this year and I’ll let you know!

 

Zen-ly,

Amber

 

The topic for this post was inspired by a group of fellow PLN principals that I connect with daily.  You can find each of their posts on Patience below:
 

 

 

Twitter me this…why use Twitter for school communication?

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Twitter me this…

Why would an administrator want to take on the headache of using social media with their parents and community?  What if I asked if you, as an administrator, would like to have more communication with your parents, keep them updated and alerted to any and all important school news, while only taking up a fraction of your time?

Twitter provides just such an opportunity. Our parents today are busy.  It’s not always like it used to be with a mom waiting at home with a snack to go through a weekly folder and help with homework. Today’s mom and dad’s may be working more than one job. They may be working late into the evening. They may have more than one student to come home and help. Even the most traditional of families can become buried underneath the responsibilities of soccer, dance, and Girl Scouts. Recognizing the different dynamics of what our students are going home to can help guide how we communicate with them all. Providing the same information in as many mediums as possible can only help ensure that we are reaching as many parents as we can.

How do I envision Twitter as an asset? It allows your tech savvy parents who are involved with social media a way to get current and timely information. Sending reminders about picture day, school closures, make-up days…things that parents are concerned about can be short and sweet.

In a world where anything can happen, and information travels SO fast, Twitter allows for timely communication. Emergencies happen and while not life pressing, to a parent, having a concern immediately taken care of can be gratifying. We had a situation one year where there was a fire in the kitchen. No students were ever in danger, but to the neighborhood surrounding us, seeing the campus swarmed with fire trucks and district personnel can be unnerving. An “all call” went out to parents that afternoon, but we had several concerned calls in the interim. Twitter would have calmed & clarified the situation immediately.

Every week a stack of reminders are sent home. Tests, pictures, events, policies, etc…we send them home in bulk at certain times of the year. A tweet is only 140 characters. Short and sweet.  “ Free dress tomorrow.”  “Don’t forget to return your library books.” “ 2nd grade field trip, bring your lunch!” All the things a teacher wishes she could call and remind each parent of the day before. May not be worth another sheet a paper, but a tweet? Absolutely.

Not all of our parents are on Twitter. Recognizing that there would be a learning curve is ok. SOME of our parents are in that space. SOME might be inclined to look into it knowing that it was offered. SOME might take advantage of the “Fast Follow” option that Twitter provides, which sends texts of tweets. In fact, sending a text was originally the only way users could tweet. This is why tweets are 140 characters — they need to fit into a text message. Anyone in the US can receive Tweets as texts on their phone even if they haven’t signed up for Twitter. This is a simple way for people to get information they care about in real-time.

If you don’t have a Twitter account (and don’t want one!) you can still find out what is happening through these text messages. (Standard messaging rates apply.)

To get started text: “Follow @username” to 40404 and you will start receiving tweets from that user on your device. You can turn off receiving updates by sending “STOP @username” to 40404. 

They won’t need a Twitter account or to sign up for anything. This will require some training, but it’s difficult to find someone who doesn’t text these days. Providing training would be worth the results each year. We started every meeting with a simple “Hey everyone! Pull out your cellphone! Let’s make sure you are getting hot off the press info from us!”

Twitter is not the silver bullet that will allow seamless communication between school and home. What it will do is provide another opportunity for educators to reach out to the parents and attempt to bridge the disconnect between school life and home life. If it also opens a door to discussing social media, cyber behavior, or having an online presence? Even better.

 

Tweetingly,

Amber

Principals are people too…or why there should be more smiling!

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While at ISTE this week, I met several people whom I hadn’t yet had the privilege of meeting f2f . People like John Spencer, whom I admire and respect for being able to articulate and defend ideas on not just education, but living life. People like Tom Murray, who is ya know, was just testifying before Congress about what is really happening in education. Or like subway navigating Bill Selak, who just may be the coolest guy I’ve ever hung around with. His facets of fascination make me cringe in inferiority!

It always reminds me when I meet these twitter “friends” how much more there is to them in real life. They’re not just a bio and 140 character message. Voxer has certainly helped, adding nuances and full personalities to those screen names I know so well. (Ahem, Tony Sinanis.)  But there is more. They are husbands, they are wives. They are teachers, they are administrators. They have personalities, and they can be hurt.

Today, Nick Provenzano, another virtual stranger turned friend shared an incredibly personal piece about dealing with anxiety and depression. Many people may claim that technology is dehumanizing relationships, but to me social media is the gateway to a connection that would have never existed. My heart just broke as I read what the amazingly effusive “nerdy teacher” was going through. We couldn’t walk to lunch this past week without being stopped by people wanting to take pictures with him or meet him in person…yet inside he was struggling.

My point here is one that I have, especially this past year, internally crystallized. Please don’t forget that we are all in this together. No one will thrive in an environment of criticism and constant critiques. Regardless of your role in education…say good morning to others! Be positive!   There is more to doing what we do than making a point or always being “right”. Know what? Being right isn’t a change agent. Remember that we are in a people business, no matter what part you play in a school day. If your role is to support teachers, do it from a place of mutual respect and appreciation. If you are dealing with an administrator you disagree with, guess what? We ALSO have feelings. Being able to effectively communicate without alienating your coworkers is crucial for a cohesive working environment.

principals

Just because you disagree with someone, doesn’t mean you have to disrespect them.  As an extremely (albeit unhealthily) sensitive person, this was was a huge wake up to me. How can I deliver leadership in a way that I myself, the super sensitive sassy girl, could handle? It’s a daily challenge!

Adam Bellow challenged us all this year to post an instagram tagged with #TYIW (this year I will) and my resolve now, post ISTE, is to remember that everything I share, think, say or do, impacts PEOPLE. Not just strangers on the internet…but someone who may just be a conversation away from being a friend.

Use your power for good, people! (go crickets.)

 

For other Principals are People Too posts, see these from…

resolvedly,

Amber

 

Conferencing this summer? Don’t forget….

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I am super excited about the opportunities I have to be at a variety of learning spaces this summer. From ISTE to Region X, my “summer” is full of learning! (I love my job!)

As I read through all of the recent posts about what not to forget and things that you “have” to have/know/pack when thinking summer learning, I keep coming back to something I read in “Leverage Leadership”.

Regardless of where you go or what you do this summer, the most important things happen AFTER you leave. If you don’t walk away with an ACTION PLAN of how to implement or start moving towards the sustainable changes you want to see happen, chances are you won’t see them take place. Have you seen this quote?

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That fired up, inspirational feeling will likely fade when you get back to the realities of your to do list and every day tasks. While you’re at your conference, (or your couch, if you’re hashtagging!) be sure you reflect on what or how you can make these happen in your building. I always like to write a “reflection” piece, documenting what great ideas I’ve seen and how I imagine it looking on our campus. I pick a “big” three to focus on and try to make happen. Why three? Because one is not enough and five is too many!

By narrowing it down and being more intentional, I am more likely to apply the most important take aways I have learned, turning each conference not just into a 5 hour energy drink, but an entire year of inspiration!

How do you make sure your excitement and energy carries over?

 

change craver,
Amber

 

Take it up a notch…just a notch! Easy lesson upgrades…

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How can you easily take an assignment you’ve already got in your lesson plans and kick it up notch? Here are some easy ideas for those who need a spark to kick it up a notch!

 

  1. Pick three – five students to ask to create a lesson on what you’re learning about, instead of completing your assessment. Let them choose the grading scale, manner of delivery. Allow them then to pick three – five students to share it with, while you’re going over what you had planned to assess with the rest of the class.
  2. Vocabulary Expert: Let students choose vocabulary words from the lesson you’re about to teach that they feel they know so well they could teach them. Match partners and allow them ten minutes to teach what they know. (What better way to start a lesson then with students feeling successful?)
  3. Let Ss create their own assessment. One of our amazing teachers let her students do this as a cumulative activity and she was blown away with how well they did. She then let them exchange their assesments to keep the lesson going. Check out their question formats!
  4. Take the five different activities you were going to do for the week and turn them into centers. Upper grades should be scaffolded this way as well! This is a GREAT way to make sure that differentiation occurs in your classroom. If students are broken up into “centers”, it will be more difficult for each student to know what others are doing. You can work remediation lessons into the students who need it, and allow your higher performing students to work on extension skills/concepts.
  5. Turn whatever activity you’re working on into a classroom jigsaw activity. Give groups of students the different questions to answer separately and then come back together as a group to debrief.
  6. Think flexible learning spaces and environments. How can you mix it up, even just for a class period? Let Ss move around, go into the hall, computer lab, library…an opportunity for your “rock stars” to get a change of (s)pace!
  7. Recognize that lower level types of questions only have one answer, but higher level questions can have several “right” answers. Watch this video and evaluate the power of the “correct” answer.

 

 

 

Lesson upgradeN,

Amber